Software patents loom in NZ

Sam Varghese
Tuesday, 23 June 2009 05:25

Business IT - Technology

"There is serious harm in software patents, because they prevent  others from using ideas. The whole of our technology, and in fact our  whole culture as the human species, is built upon us using ideas others have had and developing them further.

"Having software patents leads to unintended bad consequences.  Software patents have proved hugely detrimental in the US where they  are often used for anti-competitive purposes. Just the threat of being  sued over a software patent is often enough to stop a new product in  its tracks, without that patent ever reaching court and being tested.

"There is a large deadweight cost in legal fees and court costs which would simply go away without software patents."

Jackson added that software patents could not be awarded fairly. "Patent offices have proved incapable of determining what a valid software patent is and have consequently  awarded patents on all kinds of obvious things. This is evidenced by the way they sometimes get overturned some years later after pressure  from the community."
 
New Zealand's Creative Freedom Foundation said the software tools that many digital artists use can be put of reach through software patents.

"Unlike copyright, competitors can force licensing of any patents by applying to the NZ Patent Office which will set a per-unit price (very last century!) but obviously that's not compatible with GPLv3 licensing. Software patents can therefore be used to exclude open source competitors.

"Particularly of concern is interoperability with file formats such as H.264 and Microsoft Office file formats . Patenting the building blocks of digital art reduces choice of software and ultimately stifles artists."